Nuclear and Atomic Physics

   

One Clue to the Proton Size Puzzle: The Emergence of the Electron Membrane Paradigm

Authors: Policarpo Yōshin Ulianov

Recent experiments for proton radius measurement, based on muonic hydrogen, confirmed that the proton size obtained by muon interaction is 4% smaller than the standard value. These results generated a new problem that was called “the proton size puzzle”. This author believes that it occurs because the proton radius changes, depending on the particle with which it is interacting. In this context the author proposes that the standard proton radius be defined in conditions, where a proton is isolated in space, without interacting with any other particle. In this condition the standard proton radius seems very close to the value obtained in muonic hydrogen experiments. If this new standard proton radius value is accepted, one solution to "the proton size puzzle" must answer two basic questions: a) Why does the proton increase its size, when interacting with an electron in a hydrogen atom? b) Why does the proton maintain the (new) standard radius value, when interacting with the muon to form a muonic hydrogen atom? Question (a) can be answered, in a context where the electric force that appears between the opposite charges (of the electron and the proton) may be affecting the proton and expanding its radius. Considering the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, with the proton as an "observer" of the electron position, the proton also will not "know" where the electron position is. Thus the proton is simultaneously attracted to all positions where the electron might be, which are defined by orbital wave function. Thus, the uncertainty principle could explain that the proton is subjected to a radial force field, which tends to increase its size. Another solution for the proton size puzzle, proposed by the author, considers a change in the physical interpretation of orbital wave functions. These functions are currently connected to the probability density of the presence of the electron in a given volume of space. In this new interpretation, the wave function equations are the same, but their given values (that can be expressed in C/m3) can be associated with an effective density of electric charge, that exists simultaneously, composing a negative charge membrane, which are distributed in space around the atomic nucleus, as defined by the orbital wave function charge densities. The author calls this new model the “Electron Membrane Paradigm” (EMP), because in it the “electron particle” turns as into an “electron membrane”. The EMP has the potential to solve ’the proton size puzzle’, allowing the emergence of new theories, that can model both, electrons and other particles, in the form of strings and membranes.

Comments: 8 Pages.

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Submission history

[v1] 2013-02-04 18:29:25
[v2] 2013-02-22 15:04:14
[v3] 2013-03-19 19:35:30

Unique-IP document downloads: 521 times

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